\u2018The unity of Nigeria is not negotiable\u2019 is not uncommon in the mouths of certain Nigerian politicians.\u00a0 But do Nigerian political history, the logic of the birth of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and democracy support this assertion?<\/p>\n
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In January 1950 there was a constitutional conference held at Ibadan to discuss the draft of Macpherson Constitution which came into force in 1951.\u00a0 During the conference, delegates from the Northern Region, which included Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, threatened to secede from Nigeria and called for the reestablishment of the pre-1914 border between the Northern Protectorate and the Southern Protectorate unless they were given half of the seats in the Federal Parliament.\u00a0 Later in 1953 a controversy followed the motion for independence tabled by Action Group\u2019s Anthony Enahoro in the House of Representative.\u00a0 Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sarduana of Sokoto, was so upset that he said, \u2018The mistake of 1914 has come to light . . . . We should cease to have anything more with the Southern people.\u00a0 We should take our own away\u2019 (Adedapo Adeniran, Nigeria: The Case for Peaceful and Friendly Dissolution<\/em>, 2002).\u00a0 And finally in July 29 1966, there was the so-called counter coup.\u00a0 According to Ahmadu Kurfi in his The Nigeria General Elections 1959 and 1979<\/em> (Macmillian 1983), the original intention of the July 29 1966 counter coup leaders was to seize the government and announce the secession of the North from Nigeria.\u00a0 From the above, it is clear that for Balewa, his co-delegates from the North, Sir Ahmadu Bello and the July 29 coup leaders, the unity of Nigeria was negotiable.<\/p>\n \n Also, in August 1953 the independence of Nigeria from Britain was discussed in London by political leaders from the Northern, Eastern and Western regions of Nigeria.\u00a0 \u00a0Mr Oliver Lyttelton, the British secretary of state for colonies decided that Lagos remained the federal capital and would not be absorbed into the Western Region.\u00a0 The delegates from the West, led by its leader, Chief Awolowo, found this unacceptable.\u00a0 They threatened to secede from Nigeria.\u00a0 This was so serious that it was a subject of discussion in the British Parliament as evidenced in its Hansard (see HL Deb 02 December 1953 \u00a0vol 184 cc911 \u2013 20, 5. 30 pm).\u00a0 For Awolowo and other leaders of the West, therefore, it was not the case that the unity of Nigeria was not negotiable.<\/p>\n \n In addition, following the massacre of thousands of Igbos and others from Eastern Region in many cities and towns in the North, the Eastern Region attempted unsuccessfully to secede from Nigeria.\u00a0 For Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and his numerous followers in Eastern Nigeria and some parts of present day Delta State, therefore, the unity of Nigeria was negotiable.\u00a0 The same for Isaac Adaka Boro who protested his people\u2019s lack of access to their God-given crude oil wealth and who remains an inspiration to many ethnic nationalities in the Niger Delta region.<\/p>\n \n If representations from every area of Nigeria, as shown above, reveal that Nigerian unity is negotiable, I wonder where people imported the sickening expression that \u2018The Unity of Nigeria is not negotiable\u2019.\u00a0 Does it not sound strange that one would be prevented from questioning an entity created in 1914 for financial reason by Lord Lugard in agreement\u00a0 with the colonial office in London?\u00a0 Is it out of place to question an agreement in which no single Nigerian \u2013 living or dead \u2013 was a party to?\u00a0 How can the unity of many ethnic nations created by such an agreement not be negotiable?<\/p>\n \n Besides, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 begins thus:<\/p>\n \u2018We the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria having firmly and solemnly resolve, to live in unity and harmony as one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign nation under God, . . . . . Do hereby make, enact and give to ourselves the following Constitution\u2019.<\/p>\n \n The above says that we (the Nigerian people) firmly and solemnly resolved to live as one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign nation and to enact for ourselves the 1999 Constitution.\u00a0 When did we enact for ourselves the 1999 Constitution which speaks of an indivisible and indissoluble nation?\u00a0 It was the then Federal Military Government that gave us what we have today as the 1999 Constitution through Decree No 24 of 1999.\u00a0 If the unity of Nigeria is based on a military document which considers Nigeria indivisible and indissoluble and not on a document democratically emanating from Nigerians, does it not make sense to question such a unity which suffers from a deficit of democratic credential?<\/p>\n \n Moreover, the concept of non-negotiability of national unity appears outdated.\u00a0 In today\u2019s democratic world, national unity can be negotiated.\u00a0 It a mark of a free and democratic society that issues of national unity are discussed.\u00a0 It is this thinking that informed the Scottish independence referendum in 2014.\u00a0 Majority of scots voted to remain part of\u00a0 Britain.\u00a0 The British Prime Minster and the leaders of the main political parties in Westminster made some promises to secure this remain vote.\u00a0 This clearly shows that the duty of any responsible government is to make sure that membership of a country remains attractive to all the segments of its citizenry.\u00a0 Thus, a country is founded not only on legal legitimacy but on a dual pod of both legal and political legitimacy.<\/p>\n \n Furthermore, when some Nigerians call into question the existence of Nigeria as a united entity, this is a metaphor for saying that the present structure is not working.\u00a0 The late Sunny Okosun sang: \u2018Many years after our independence we still find it hard to start\u2019.\u00a0 Unless you belong to the Establishment or you are somehow connected to it you are likely to wish for a better structure.\u00a0 Nigeria is in need of reform.\u00a0 Make a personal listing of all your known indices of bad governance and see whether they are not applicable at an alarming level to Nigeria.<\/p>\n \n President Muhammadu Buhari said a few days ago that the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable.\u00a0 I disagree.<\/p>\n \n \n Somadina Ibe-Ojiludu, OFM Cap, a Capuchin Franciscan Friar and a post-graduate law student, writes from London<\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018The unity of Nigeria is not negotiable\u2019 is not uncommon in the mouths of certain Nigerian politicians.\u00a0 But do Nigerian political history, the logic of the birth of the Constitution…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n